Oregon Hikers

From Mitchel Point I followed the powerline road east. At the next saddle, I intended to explore north, to the next high point east of Mitchell. I was surprised to find a five-way junction at that saddle.

I took the northbound trail, expecting it to be a deadend. It wasn't. It put me in a labyrinth of trails, none of which resulted in satisfying viewpoints. That's okay, I wasn't expecting much. Eventually I arrived at Post Canyon trailhead, where I turned back and explored some more until I ended up back at the 5-way junction.

Then took the uphill trail, and explored trails/roads/x-country, eventually working my way west, across Perham Creek, then up to Wygant Summit. There's a trail now, unofficial. Perhaps there was a faint trail before, I'm not sure. But I'm confident it wasn't this well defined before, or I would have noticed it crossing the meadow on the SW slopes of Wygant.

From Wygant summit, followed the trail back to Mitchell. The Perham crossing was just slightly tricky. Plenty of logs and rocks, but a bit slippery. Noticed there are remnants of two bridges. An older one is a bit downstream of the present crossing. Could possibly be a bit of the bridge remnants at the present crossing, but I don't think so.

Other parties:
Complete solitude until I was approaching Wygant summit, where I encountered Rigsby and a group of clients.

A little below the summit, I ran into a fellow and his dog who had been bushwhacking. They attempted the Chetwoot Loop. I tried that once, and gave up, but they persisted. Kudos! They ended up way off trail (it's essentially gone, impossible to follow) but I admire the tenacity.

At Mitchell TH, there was an Envoy with a smashed rear (liftgate) window. That's gotta be an expensive window to replace, with the heater strips. I was the first to arrive in the morning, so I know my car was there at the time of the incident. I lucked out (have been less fortunate of multiple previous occasions).

Weather:
A few days ago, I opened my car door at Mitchell and was blasted in the face with wind-driven snow. Today, I wore summer clothes for the first time this year. It was breezy coming down the Wygant trail, and I donned a light jacket for the first time.

Saw the first flowers of the year (posted in a separate topic).

It sounds like more people have been doing the Wygant-Mitchell loop if there's now a well-defined trail leading directly south form the Wygant summit to the logging road.

Sad to hear about the breakin. We had a car clouting at Yeon Trailhead in January while we were off doing trail work on the closed trails. Never leave anything lying visible in your car (unless it's a dead possum)!

Greetings Chip - It was a pleasure to meet you briefly on the backside of Wygant Peak. I was the sherpa to #rigbythehikingdog. He had just hiked us thru the Chetwoot Loop for his 8th birthday. No ticks found so far...

Regards,
CraigG

...and yes, that was my Envoy that had it's rear window smashed in at the TH. Nothing of value taken. A backpack with clothes taken - no valuables. No one hurt. Oh well - could have been worse.

Regards,
CraigG

Craig,

So sorry to hear about the break in! I've parked there twice recently (Feb. 3rd and Feb. 7th) so I guess I've been lucky. Great pics on your meet-up group page for the hike, BTW.

dn

Craig,
Damn, so sorry to hear that was your Envoy. Strangely, it didn't even occur to me it might be yours. The last time I lost a window, it was this time of year, January I guess. Good that you're taking it in stride. No point fuming over it.

Don Nelsen wrote: ↑

February 10th, 2020, 6:11 pm

I've parked there twice recently (Feb. 3rd and Feb. 7th) so I guess I've been lucky.

Don, sorry I missed you on Feb 3! That would have been a fun random encounter. As for getting lucky, imagine how lucky I felt when I knew my car was the only one in the lot before dawn, on a day when the asswipes were out doing their thing, and I escaped unscathed. Clearly, they looked at my vehicle, and Craig's, maybe others, sized them up, made a decision to get just one. Last time, I was in a lot where all cars were broken into, so we all commiserated as we cleaned up and assessed damages.

[edit] Dammit Don, when I saw you had posted, I was expecting the DeSoto story!

The "old" sign you photographed was not one of the originals from the 70s/80s. The older signs had a different look - for example, there was a varnish on them and they had a rougher look around the edges.

Greetings Chip and Don -

Thanks for the replies. I will consider different ways to reduce the probability of a break-in, if that is even possible.

Looks like one can make rather large loop of the Wygant area by going further south behind Wygant Peak. I believe areas southeast of Wygant are OHV areas? Seems like a good low-elevation, high mileage loop to make before leaf out. Ty for the trail report Chip!

Regards,
CraigG

Here's the history behind the original signs along the Chetwoot Trail:

In 1982, Basil Clark created some unique signs that were used to mark the various trails of Trapper Creek Wilderness. Similar signage has been used on the trails between Angels Rest and Devils Rest, as well as the Chetwoot Trail at Wygant Peak. The Falls Fire damaged several of the Fox Glove trail signs near Devils Rest.

The reason for the bear on the Chetwoot Trail signs was that a black bear hung around Mazama trail tenders one year as they worked on the route.

BigBear wrote: ↑

February 11th, 2020, 9:29 am

The "old" sign you photographed was not one of the originals from the 70s/80s. The older signs had a different look - for example, there was a varnish on them and they had a rougher look around the edges.

Yeah, I wondered about that. The sign I saw was suspiciously crisp.
A quick image search proves it's not original.